THE AIR AROUND Clonoulty/Rossmore hung with that heavy mix of the joyous and the desperate on Tuesday.
Joyous because the great and good of the hurling world were brought together in one place. Eddie Keher and Henry Shefflin trading snippets of conversation through sips of tea and bites of sandwiches. Davy Fitzgerald stopping for selfies and words with children.
John Kiely and Darren Gleeson. Darragh Egan and Pat Ryan. Liam Cahill, Marty Morrissey and a whole squadron of mini games going on with hurling and camogie.
All there though, because of their support to the Dillon Quirke Foundation, in memory of the Tipperary hurler who collapsed and died during a match for his local club in Semple Stadium.
The aim of the launch is to raise €1 million to help screen children from the age of 12 up for heart defects. Already, they are halfway there.
Liam Cahill is here to talk hurling, and the hard questions can wait until he tells us a little bit about the lad that he managed to an All-Ireland U21 title in August, 2018. If things were different, Quirke would be still one of the boys who graduated from Cahill’s underage teams to become senior mainstays.
“The Foundation for us and myself as Tipperary senior hurling manager, and the players involved on our squad is something immensely close to us,” he begins.
“It’s well documented in relation to Dillon’s passing and the connection with that, and the players involved on our panel and the players throughout Tipperary, but mostly the players involved in our dressing room and the relationship they have with Dillon.
“It is something that is very raw for us but it something we support 100% for the work it is going to do in highlighting underlying issues relating to players around the country, plus the memory of Dillon is kept there as well which is very important to us and he is with us in spirit every day we take to the field.”
The days after his passing were wretched for everyone. There is no ‘but’ in a tale like this, though there is the sense that when someone like this suffers an untimely death, a whole world of yarns and stories, little inspirations are revealed to the wider world.
To their credit, the Tipperary panel opened all this up and shared. But they are living with a grief that young men shouldn’t have to experience just yet.
“At the start of the year we spoke about him a little bit and it was emotionally raw in our squad with everybody,” says Cahill.
It was really a case of putting it out there and making sure that everybody knew that if anything ever bothered them in relation to Dillon’s passing that we had one another to talk to and that is what we do.”
He continues, “We are together in everything we do, it is not just about hurling in there, we like to think we are together in there as regards watching out for one another as well.
“That is what it is about, making sure that we don’t try to hide or bury Dillon’s passing, that we are comfortable with it as best we can and open up to one another when the tough days come, and there are tough days when you are donning the jersey and look at the dressing room corner where he used to sit, that is not easy.
“Whatever about me as the manager, but for his friends and colleagues. This something we will have to learn how to manage and control our emotions as best we can and put it into a positive and I know Dillon would want us to do that.”
The best means of self-expression will be found in their hurling. Though the focus of the GAA world is ever shifting.
Cahill recently caused a little merriment when naming his side to play Clare in the Munster championship round-robin, putting the players in alphabetical order as a measure against the diktat that teams must be named.
However, he doesn’t see it as a minor protest.
“In the GAA we try and stay as traditional as we can for as long as can. It was just circumstances outside of our control that week. I took no pleasure in having to do what we did, it is not our style and it has been no previous Tipperary managers style in hurling or football to play mind-games like that,” he states.
It was perceived in the media and the public as playing mind-games, it wasn’t anything to that effect.
“It was just getting caught with the new ruling from Croke Park and making sure our players were aligned first before the team was given to the media.
“But we will be reverting back to the traditional 1-15 and panel numbers for Cork and will continue to abide by Croke Park from here on it.”
This Saturday’s match between the traditional powers of Munster hurling is drawing a serious appetite with an attendance something in the region of 35,000 expected for a Saturday night fixture.
The sheer volume of games required for a round-robin means this scheduling has become commonplace and Cahill is a fan.
“That is what we need to do in the GAA, to make it attractive for people to go to, and if Saturday night is going to increase our attendances and audiences then we should go for it.”
The Dillon Quirke Foundation fundraising in association with The Circet All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge was launched at the Clonoulty-Rossmore GAA club in Tipperary on Tuesday. The Foundation are calling on all GAA clubs to provide €100 towards providing cardiac screening across the association. To donate, visit bit.ly/doitfordillon.
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